


coming back to life

by TheQueenInTheNorth



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M, Missing Scene, Mockingjay Epilogue Compliant, Pre-Epilogue Mockingjay, scene that could have happened in canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:48:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24897949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheQueenInTheNorth/pseuds/TheQueenInTheNorth
Summary: Katniss can't sleep. Apparently, neither can Peeta.
Relationships: Katniss Everdeen/Peeta Mellark
Comments: 19
Kudos: 92





	coming back to life

Katniss can’t say what drives her out of bed that night but something does and she pads over to the window, hugging herself against the cold, against the silence of the empty house.

It’s dark out, bar the light on in Haymitch’s kitchen. Either still awake, up again, or too drunk to switch it off.

She doesn’t dwell on that thought, eyes moving on to the other house that’s recently been made Peeta’s again. He sits out on the porch, his golden hair shining in the moonlight.

She is down the stairs before she realises it, out of the house before she can question herself. She buries her hands in the pockets of her father’s hunting jacket and does her best not to walk as quietly as she is used to.

She hates getting startled. She does not want to do it to Peeta.

Katniss hesitates at the first of the three steps leading up to Peeta’s porch; he does not look at her. She’s about to turn away again when he pats the bench beside him.

She sits. Their arms nearly touch. He still doesn’t look at her but he shifts a little closer.

"The stars look especially lovely tonight,"he says.

Maybe so she doesn’t ask him why he’s awake. Not that she was going to - it’s pretty obvious why. His eyes are red and puffy.

She looks up at the sky, too.“And the moon.”

They sit in silence for a while. Katniss puts her hand on the bench, in the small gap between their thighs. Her heart is pounding a frantic rhythm, a trapped bird, desperate to take flight.

She breathes a barely audible sigh of relief when Peeta brushes his fingers against hers.

He smiles at her, almost shyly, and Katniss nods. He takes her hand properly.

They sit there until the sun rises, the cold not enough to want to make them move and risk breaking this fragile moment of something like peace.

There’s warmth blooming in Katniss’ chest, though, spreading through her faster than the nightair seeps the heat from her bones.

She’s sure Peeta feels it, too. His smile is so free, so soft and light.

She closes her eyes and savours this.

“I wish,”she says, barely above a whisper,“I could freeze this moment.”

Peeta looks at her, with those kind eyes, a hint of surprise in them, and wets his lips. Then he says,“I’ll allow it.”

The sun rises, orange and hopeful.


End file.
